President Biden’s penchant for using the same phrases gave rise to the term “Biden-isms.” And his aides have a similar habit of relying on the same buzzwords.
Often, both tactics are aimed at appealing to the most liberal faction in his party, which he has worked to assuage amid a sometimes-shaky alliance.
The term “Biden-isms” covers Biden’s twin tendencies. For one, the president repeatedly uses folksy phrases, such as “here’s the deal.” What’s been problematic is his reputation for misspeaking, exaggerating, or saying things deemed inappropriate.
Biden and his administration have been more careful with the latter during his post-election transition and now in the White House. Coronavirus precautions have conveniently helped them stay on message by limiting unscripted access to the president, who has yet to hold his first solo press conference 55 days into his term.
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But after campaigning against former President Donald Trump’s often-brash tone with a message that the words of a commander in chief “matter,” Biden and his staff are proving their own point by deliberately choosing language and rhetoric that sometimes has coded meanings.
Here are four examples of what might be dubbed “Biden’s buzzwords”:
‘Level-set’
Biden and his administration haven’t been shy about blaming Trump when it benefits them. On the flip side, Trump allies have complained that Biden and his aides are denying Trump credit for, among other achievements, supporting the coronavirus vaccine development.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain has bluntly reiterated how his boss “inherited a mess,” particularly regarding the country’s COVID-19 response. White House press secretary Jen Psaki and other administration officials, though, have leaned on a more subtle way of pushing back on matters hamstringing Biden’s presidency.
During tense questioning over the immigration situation at the United States-Mexico border, Psaki last week said: “We’re talking about children, I’m just level-setting here.”
“But the majority of people who come to the border are still turned away or expelled under Title 42,” she continued, referring to Trump-era pandemic immigration restrictions.
On a similar topic, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas deployed the same tactic when asked about COVID-19 migrant testing in Texas.
“So, if I can level-set on that: The extraordinary weather that Texas suffered, and to which the president responded with such urgency, created an unexpected stress on our system,” he said.
‘Interagency’ or ‘whole-of-government’
Policy technocrats submersed in the so-called Swamp are recovering from Trump’s governing-by-tweet leadership style. And Psaki has played up the contrast between that and Biden’s return to the “new normal” in the White House press briefing room and, ironically, on social media.
In response to questions about a National Security Council meeting convened last month to discuss Biden’s approach to Iran, Psaki tweeted the talks were part of the new administration’s already-announced policy review.
“It is not decisional,” she wrote. “Meeting is proof that the interagency process is back to functioning after four long years of personality-driven decision-making.”
Trump largely became a one-man policy process. These terms are not new, but they are back in a big way.
There are no pending policy announcements. We will consult broadly with Congress and partners before any decisions are taken. Meeting is proof that the interagency process is back to functioning after four long years of personality-driven decision-making.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) February 5, 2021
‘Equity’ and ‘equality’
“Equity” and “equality,” like “unity,” are key terms of Biden’s administration. The president, for instance, has a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force and a Gender Policy Council. But “equity” and “equality,” unlike the previous examples, are words aimed at underscoring policy differences between Biden and Trump, and Democrats and Republicans.
“The president-elect’s equity agenda is grounded in advancing racial justice and building back better for communities who have been underserved, including people of color and Americans with disabilities, LGBTQ+ Americans, religious minorities, and rural and urban communities facing persistent poverty,” Biden’s transition team wrote on the morning of Inauguration Day.
For former South Carolina GOP Rep. Bob Inglis, the distinction between “equity” and “equality” was integral and offered a wedge issue between Democrats and Republicans. As his colleagues grapple with their post-Trump identity, Inglis urged Republicans to become “a party that believes in equal opportunity.”
“The test of conservatism is that it works for everyone. And we’re ready to take that test and show that our policies work for people with modest incomes, as well as people that are wealthy. And they work for people of all colors,” he told the Washington Examiner.
He added, “And then, you can take the Democrats as a party that believes in equal outcomes, which is not an American idea.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In: ‘Undocumented noncitizen.’ Out: ‘Illegal alien”
Another instance of a policy language pivot is, again, in the context of immigration.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services directed its officials last month to use the term “undocumented noncitizen” or “individual” rather than “illegal alien,” except when needed for legal communications.
One broader example on top of “climate change” and “environmental justice” is the option on the White House’s online contact form to select a preferred pronoun. Visitors to the website can now choose from “she/her,” “he/him,” “they/them,” “other,” and “prefer not to share.”
